Scientifically known as Panthera Leo Spelaea, the European Cape Lion is said to have lived between 370,000- 10,000 years ago. It was one of the largest lions to have ever lived. It has been said that a Cave Lion is a cross between a tiger and a lion, making it a liger although this has not yet been proven. This report will discuss and explore the reasons for extinction of the European Cave Lions and their adaptations.
Scientific Classification of the European Cave Lion
Adaptations of the European Cave Lion Structural First Structural Adaptation:
It is believed by anthropologists that the Cave Lions were approximately 3.5 metres in length and a male weighed approximately 365 pounds. The European Cave Lion was one of the largest lions to have ever roamed the earth.
Being this large, the Cave Lion scared away its prey easily. This suggests that the lion had to work very hard for its food, which led to smaller breeds in the future of the lions.
The lions ate much more then they are currently eating. Which meant that the European Cave Lion needed to eat more greenery to aid their digestion. Larger numbers of the European Cave Lions would have caused a much higher strain on the environment’s balance. Second Structural Adaptation:
The Cave Lion is one of the lions that had a tufted tail. These “tufts” of fur on the ends of the lion’s tail are there to hide the spur that is detached from the last vertebra on the lion’s tail.
The tufted tail helps lions because the spur helps to holds in the nerves and blood vessels, as it is believed to be a tactile organ.
The lion’s tufted tail had minimal, if any impact on the environment.
Behaviour First Behavioural Adaptation:
When killing a small prey, the European Cave Lion swiped its front paws at the prey and then held it down with both front limbs. Then the lion would bitten the animal’s neck and suffocated it until the victim was dead. The Cave Lion could not outrun all of its prey, but it could catch its prey from behind or send out an ambush.
Using their paws for pouncing on their prey probably helped the Cave Lions kill and eat its prey. By using its paws, the European Cave Lion was able to reach further than the other animals and it gave the lion another weapon to fight.
The excessive amounts of killing, may have resulted badly for the environment and served a great amount of pressure to the environmental. Although, it is unlikely to cause enough damage to harm the environment as even if the lion did not use it’s paws to kill, it could have used it’s mouth. Second Behavioural Adaptation:
All lions including the Cave Lions are able to look at other lions from afar to determine their gender. This is because lions are able to determine the fact that male lions have manes, while lionesses do not. Of all the cat family, lions are the only members that are sexually dimorphic.
This enables the lions/lionesses to choose a partner in which to reproduce with.
The determination of the gender of a lion would in no way affect the environment.
Physiological
Because all lions are mammals, they are also warm blooded. This means that the internal temperature of a lion will remain constant irrespective of the weather conditions. This explains why that they need fur to cover their bodies.
Being a warm blooded is a benefit to the lions, because it means that they do not have to rely on their environment to ensure that their internal body is kept warm. Although, being a mammal does not stop the external body from over heating or being too cold.
Being warm blooded may have caused great pressure to the environment, as the areas of shade may have had easily broken branches in which the environment may not have the balance to regrow.
The European Cave Lion’s Habitat
As shown in figures 2 and 3, the lion’s habitat stretched from Europe (England down to Siberia) to Asia. It is hypothesised that the Cave Lions had a broad habitat but that they probably preferred forests and grasslands.
The Cave Lion’s fossils were found in cave hence their common name, Cave Lion. But not surprisingly the Cave Lions did not live in caves. Like present day lions, the Cave Lions prey include medium-sized to large-size herbivores such as: deer, bison and horses.
Extinction Pressure of the European Cave Lion
Scientists believe that the Cave Lion’s extinction was possibly due to the Holocene event. The Holocene event was where the farmers killed the majority of the lions by the overhunting the lion’s prey and in turn the overhunting of the European Cave Lions themselves. The Holocene Event also had to do with the drastic climate change to a warmer temperature that caused a tough time for the lions to hunt in their favourite prey in familiar lands. The Cave Lions were alive from approximately 300,000 to 10,000 years ago, the Holocene event was approximately 10,000 years ago which proves that the extinction dates match up with the Holocene event hence that the European Cave Lions turned extinct because of the Holocene event.
Scientifically known as Panthera Leo Spelaea, the European Cape Lion is said to have lived between 370,000- 10,000 years ago. It was one of the largest lions to have ever lived. It has been said that a Cave Lion is a cross between a tiger and a lion, making it a liger although this has not yet been proven. This report will discuss and explore the reasons for extinction of the European Cave Lions and their adaptations.
Scientific Classification of the European Cave Lion
Figure 1) Annotated European Cave Lion
Source: (own annotation) http://www.carnivoraforum.com/index.cgi?board=dinosaur&action=print&thread=6263
Adaptations of the European Cave Lion
Structural
First Structural Adaptation:
It is believed by anthropologists that the Cave Lions were approximately 3.5 metres in length and a male weighed approximately 365 pounds. The European Cave Lion was one of the largest lions to have ever roamed the earth.
Being this large, the Cave Lion scared away its prey easily. This suggests that the lion had to work very hard for its food, which led to smaller breeds in the future of the lions.
The lions ate much more then they are currently eating. Which meant that the European Cave Lion needed to eat more greenery to aid their digestion. Larger numbers of the European Cave Lions would have caused a much higher strain on the environment’s balance.
Second Structural Adaptation:
The Cave Lion is one of the lions that had a tufted tail. These “tufts” of fur on the ends of the lion’s tail are there to hide the spur that is detached from the last vertebra on the lion’s tail.
The tufted tail helps lions because the spur helps to holds in the nerves and blood vessels, as it is believed to be a tactile organ.
The lion’s tufted tail had minimal, if any impact on the environment.
Behaviour
First Behavioural Adaptation:
When killing a small prey, the European Cave Lion swiped its front paws at the prey and then held it down with both front limbs. Then the lion would bitten the animal’s neck and suffocated it until the victim was dead. The Cave Lion could not outrun all of its prey, but it could catch its prey from behind or send out an ambush.
Using their paws for pouncing on their prey probably helped the Cave Lions kill and eat its prey. By using its paws, the European Cave Lion was able to reach further than the other animals and it gave the lion another weapon to fight.
The excessive amounts of killing, may have resulted badly for the environment and served a great amount of pressure to the environmental. Although, it is unlikely to cause enough damage to harm the environment as even if the lion did not use it’s paws to kill, it could have used it’s mouth.
Second Behavioural Adaptation:
All lions including the Cave Lions are able to look at other lions from afar to determine their gender. This is because lions are able to determine the fact that male lions have manes, while lionesses do not. Of all the cat family, lions are the only members that are sexually dimorphic.
This enables the lions/lionesses to choose a partner in which to reproduce with.
The determination of the gender of a lion would in no way affect the environment.
Physiological
Because all lions are mammals, they are also warm blooded. This means that the internal temperature of a lion will remain constant irrespective of the weather conditions. This explains why that they need fur to cover their bodies.
Being a warm blooded is a benefit to the lions, because it means that they do not have to rely on their environment to ensure that their internal body is kept warm. Although, being a mammal does not stop the external body from over heating or being too cold.
Being warm blooded may have caused great pressure to the environment, as the areas of shade may have had easily broken branches in which the environment may not have the balance to regrow.
The European Cave Lion’s Habitat
As shown in figures 2 and 3, the lion’s habitat stretched from Europe (England down to Siberia) to Asia. It is hypothesised that the Cave Lions had a broad habitat but that they probably preferred forests and grasslands.
The Cave Lion’s fossils were found in cave hence their common name, Cave Lion. But not surprisingly the Cave Lions did not live in caves. Like present day lions, the Cave Lions prey include medium-sized to large-size herbivores such as: deer, bison and horses.
Figure 2) The European Habitat of the Cave Lion
Source: http://id-archserve.ucsb.edu/anth3/courseware/Pleistocene/6_Bestiary.html
Figure 3) The Asian Habitat of the Cave Lion
Source: http://id-archserve.ucsb.edu/anth3/courseware/Pleistocene/6_Bestiary.html
Extinction Pressure of the European Cave Lion
Scientists believe that the Cave Lion’s extinction was possibly due to the Holocene event. The Holocene event was where the farmers killed the majority of the lions by the overhunting the lion’s prey and in turn the overhunting of the European Cave Lions themselves. The Holocene Event also had to do with the drastic climate change to a warmer temperature that caused a tough time for the lions to hunt in their favourite prey in familiar lands. The Cave Lions were alive from approximately 300,000 to 10,000 years ago, the Holocene event was approximately 10,000 years ago which proves that the extinction dates match up with the Holocene event hence that the European Cave Lions turned extinct because of the Holocene event.
Bibliography/References:
Unknown Author (2010). Panthera Leo Spelae. Retrieved July 19, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_leo_spelaea
Unknown Author (2010). Extinct Big Cats. Retrieved July 19, 2010 from http://bigcats2.tripod.com/Extinct_Cats.html
Unknown Author (2009). Cave Lion. Retrieved July 20, 2010 from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Cave_Lion
Unknown Author, What Did The Cave Lion Eat?. Retrieved July 20, 2010 from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_did_the_cave_lion_eat
Stuart, A. S. & Lister, A. L. (2010). Cave Lion - Panthera Leo Spelaea. Retrieved July 21, 2010 from http://www.carnivoraforum.com/index.cgi?board=dinosaur&action=print&thread=6263
Unknown Author.(2010). All About Lions. Retrieved July 21, 2010 from http://www.barbarylion.com/All%20About%20Lions.htm
Unknown Author (2008). Fact About Lions. Retrieved July 21, 2010 from
http://www.facts-about.org.uk/animals-lions.htm
Jones, T. J. (2010). Warmer Climate May Have Wiped Out The Cave Lion. Retrieved July 21, 2010 from
http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=746
Unknown Author (2010). Cave Lion: Environment . Retrieved July 24, 2010 from http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Cave_lion_-_Environment/id/1195094
Nelson, B. N. (2010). The Holocene Extinction Event. Retrieved July 24, 2010 from http://scienceray.com/biology/ecology/the-holocene-extinction-event/